Community & Current Events

Highlights from Team Canada's medal moments in Rio

Community & Current Events

Highlights from Team Canada's medal moments in Rio

We’re just over halfway through the Summer Olympics in Rio and Team Canada has sprinted, dived, swam, cycled and bounced their way onto the podium. So far, we’ve won 14 medals to date and a whopping 12 of those have been won by women. With four more days left of competition, we’re eyeing Team Canada’s goal of 19 medals and a 12th place overall country rank. It’s a tall order, but judging from the brilliance our Canadian athletes have shown already, it seems totally within grasp. Let’s take stock of Team Canada’s most memorable medal moments so far.

Image credit: Getty Images / Adam Pretty

Name: Penny OleksiakEvent: Women’s 100-metre freestyle and women’s 100-metre butterflyMedals: Gold, Silver
Sixteen-year-old swimming sensation Penny Oleksiak has a slew of new accolades to add to her resume: Gold and silver medallist, Olympic record holder in the 100-metre freestyle, the first ever Canadian to win four medals in a single Summer Olympics and the country’s youngest Olympic medallist. She’s also the favourite to carry the Canadian flag at Sunday’s closing ceremonies and got personal shout-out from Drake on Instagram.

Image credit: Getty Images / David Ramos

Name: Rosie MacLennanEvent: TrampolineMedal: Gold
Canada’s opening ceremony flag bearer Rosie MacLennan proved once again that she’s made of gold when she won the top spot in trampoline. Her performance—which saw the gymnast bouncing some six-metres in the air, attempting seemingly impossible twists and flips—is even more impressive when you consider that only last year she thought she might never be able to compete again after developing a concussion after a serious fall. She’s the first Canadian to win back-to-back gold medals at a Summer Olympics.

Image credit: Getty Images / Patrick Smith

Name:Andre De GrasseEvent: 100-metreMedals: Silver, Bronze
The first time Markham, Ont.’s Andre De Grasse won the 100-metre dash, he was a high school junior in basketball shorts and Converse sneakers. Fast forward to Rio, and the 21-year-old sprinted his way to a bronze medal in the same race. It was the first time since Donovan Bailey’s gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games that a Canadian man has made it to the Olympic podium in the 100-metre dash. And, thanks to behind-the-scenes footage, we can all see exactly how excited Bailey is to see his legacy live on in De Grasse. De Grasse snagged doubled his Olympic medals when he won silver in the 200-metre sprint.

Image credit: Getty Images / Damien Meyer

Name: Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia ObeeEvent: Lightweight women’s double scullsMedal: Silver
Victoria-based rowers Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee won the silver medal in the 2,000-metre race. Known for their strong finishes, the Canadians were at the back of the group up until the halfway point, when they rowed their way from fifth to second place. The duo made their debut in lightweight women’s double sculls at the London 2012 Games, where they placed seventh.

Image credit: Getty Images / Odd Anderson

Name: Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, Chantal Van Landeghem, Sandrine MainvilleEvent: Women’s 4x100-metre freestyle relayMedal: Bronze
The team snatched up the bronze by just eight hundredths of a second, with teen superstar Penny Oleksiak swimming in the anchor position. The last time Canada won a medal in the Women’s 4x100-metre freestyle relay was back in 1976 in Montreal.

Image credit: Getty Images / Ian MacNicol

Name: Penny Oleksiak, Katherine Savard, Taylor Ruck, Brittany MacLeanEvent: 4x200-metre freestyle relayMedal: Bronze
Although going into the race the Canadians were considered an underdog, they proved themselves with a third place finish behind the United States and Australia. Like in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay, Penny Oleksiak anchored the team.

Image credit: Getty Images / Odd Anderson

Name: Kirsti Lay, Allison Beveridge, Georgia Simmerling and Jasmin GlaesserEvent: Women’s team pursuitMedal: Bronze
At the Rio Olympic Velodrome, Canada’s women’s track cyclists blazed their way through the four-kilometre race in just four minutes 14.627 seconds, following up their bronze medal performance in London 2012 with another third place finish. Team member Georgia Simmerling is the first Canadian to compete in three different sports at three different Olympics: at the Vancouver 2010 games she competed in alpine skiing, and in Sochi, she competed in ski cross.

Image credit: Getty Images / Gabriel Bouys

Name: Hilary CaldwellEvent: Women’s 200-metre backstrokeMedal: Bronze
When 25-year-old Hilary Caldwell from White Rock, B.C., entered the Olympic pool for the 200-metre backstroke final, she continued Canada’s amazing medal streak in swimming. Her time of two-minutes 07.54 seconds won her the bronze and brought Canada’s total medal count in swimming to six — all of which were won by women.

Image credit: Getty Images

Name: Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline FilionEvent: Women’s 10-metre synchronized divingMedal: Bronze
Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Laval, Que. won a bronze medal in the 10-metre synchro event, a follow-up to their bronze medal from the 2012 London Games. The duo have been through a lot together over the past 11 years (including Filion breaking her ankle this past December), but plunging into murky green water may have been a first. But as the pool in the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre turned a mossy hue throughout the event, the duo say it may have actually worked to their advantage: “It’s not the same colour as the sky, so that was really on our side today,” Filion said.

Image credit: Getty Images / Gabriel Bouys

Name: Kylie MasseEvent: Women’s 100-metre backstrokeMedal: Bronze
Just two years ago, Windsor, Ont.-born Kylie Masse was ranked 200th in the world in the women’s 100-metre backstroke. After a spectacular performance at Rio, she’s now number three. The University of Toronto student tied for the bronze medal with China’s Fu Yuanhui.

Image credit: Getty Images / Jamie Squire

Name: Women’s rugby sevens teamEvent: Women’s rugby sevensMedal: Bronze
The Canadian Women’s rugby sevens team made history by winning bronze in the event’s Olympic debut. After losing their semi-final match to Australia earlier in the day, Canada came back to win 33-10 over Great Britain for the bronze. Led by captain Jen Kish, the team trains at Rugby Canada’s centre in Langford, B.C.

Image credit: Getty Images / Damien Meyere

Name: Brianne Theisen-EatonEvent: HeptathlonMedal: Bronze
In heptathlon, athletes compete in seven track and field events (100-metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-metres, long jump, javelin throw and 800-metres) over the course of two days. It’s a gruelling affair, but Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the 27-year-old from Humbolt, Sask. Population: 5,600, was ranked number two in the world going into Rio and considered a medal hopeful. After a disappointing day one, she fought back to land herself in the bronze medal position — the first time a Canadian has ever made it to the podium in the event.

Author: gettyimagesCredits: Julian Finney

Name:Derek DrouinEvent: High jumpMedal: Gold

The world champion going into Rio, Derek Drouin held onto his reign in Rio with a season’s best leap of 2.38-metres. Can’t quite visualize how tall that is exactly? The National Post has put it into a very Canadian perspective: the 26-year-old from Corunna, Ont., could leap over 26 boxes of timbits, eight cases of Molson Canadian or one adult moose.

Culture & Entertainment

Nelly Furtado helps us be a little greener

Culture & Entertainment

Nelly Furtado helps us be a little greener

The singer-songwriter and philanthropist comes clean on her ten-year job as a housekeeper, why she finds cleaning therapeutic, when she taught her daughter to do laundry and why she has teamed up with Tide purclean to launch its new eco-friendly detergent.

Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado grew up in the family business—the cleaning business. “I come from a housekeeping background. My mom ran a laundry and cleaning company, and from a young age, I would go along with her to help out on odd jobs,” says Furtado. For the Grammy-award winner, lending a hand with the housekeeping turned into her first decade-long job. “I was a professional housekeeper at a hotel for 10 years in Vancouver,” says Furtado.

So, when Tide approached Furtado to help launch purclean—their first bio-based detergent (65% of the ingredients are made using renewable energy sources, such as plants)—the decision was an easy one. This more eco-friendly option is also hypoallergenic, free of dyes, chlorine and phosphates, and is produced in an environmentally-friendly manufacturing site.

Along with using a more sustainable detergent, Furtado limits the amount of loads she does per week and uses energy-saving cold water. “Every little bit counts: I drive a hybrid car so I only have to fill up on gas once a month. I make my own cleaning products with vinegar and water. When I’m spring cleaning or moving, I donate everything from faucets and cabinets to furniture to Habitat for Humanity so they can reuse them instead of putting them in a landfill,” says Furtado.

Furtado taught her daughter, Nevis, who is now 13-years-old, how to do laundry when she was 10-years-old. “At the time, she was saving up to buy an iPad, so Furtado gave her a list of chores to do, including laundry, to save enough money for the big purchase. “I felt I was teaching her a really valuable skill that she’ll use into adulthood, but she already mastered it at a young age. She’s really good at folding, too,” says Furtado.

Along with raising a teenage daughter and managing a successful music career (she has sold 16 million albums), she is committed to her environmental and humanitarian philanthropic work. This year, she helped host We Day, an event that empowers kids to contribute to positive changes in their communities, as well as acknowledging many who do. She also remains very close to the organization, Free The Children—she has helped raise $1 million dollars for a new all-girls school in Narok in rural Kenya. This Christmas, Nelly will visit the girls at the school.

In March 2018, Furtado will release her seventh album, The Ride. Most of the songs were written outside the studio while doing other things, such as laundry or in a car ride in Kenya during one of her Free The Children missions.

These days, when she’s not travelling, Furtado continues to clean her own house as she finds it puts her in a meditative mood, giving her the opportunity to focus on her music. “It’s part of who I am,” says Furtado.

Quick & Easy

Easy pasta salad recipes

Planning a picnic or family barbecue anytime soon? Give yourself one less thing to worry about and go for one of our easy pasta salad recipes. It's sure to be a hit!

Pasta salads are great to make ahead, and are absolute tops for large groups. They also take the cake for being an extremely versatile dish – with a host of added ingredients, toppings and dressings, simple pasta salads can go from humble side to star entrée in no time.

We asked Test Kitchen food specialist Amanda Barnier to share some top tips for preparing pasta salads, and why they're a crowd favourite. Here's what she had to share:

Pasta salads: the perfect make-ahead dish
"Pasta salads can easily be prepped in advance and can feed a crowd with little effort," Amanda says. "It can be made in advance and cooled immediately after cooking."

One important tip to remember, she adds, is to "add dressing the day it's being served, because it will quickly absorb the dressing."

Pasta salad favourites
"I like using cheese filled tortellini for a hearty salad. Soba and rice noodles are great with Asian dressings, whole grain and coloured pastas," Amanda says.

How to store pasta salads
"Keep salads well wrapped and refrigerated," she says. "Salad has the same storage life as its ingredients. Seafood is best eaten within 2 days, and chicken (within) 2 to 3 days. If traveling, be sure to store pasta salads in coolers packed with lots of ice."

"Proteins should not be within 4 C and 60 C for longer than a four hour period," she adds.

The long and short of it: best pasta shapes
"Short shapes are best with vinaigrettes and creamy dressings, and chunky ingredients such as chopped vegetables and beans," Amanda says.

Tips for making pasta salad
"If making a pasta salad in advance, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and drain well," she advises. "Add dressing just prior to serving. Pasta quickly absorbs liquids; if the dressing is added too soon, the pasta will absorb it."

So whether you prefer chunky pasta salads with a cool, creamy dressing perfect for summer picnics, or entrée-worthy pasta salads with long rice noodles and a tangy vinaigrette, you're sure to find a new favourite with from our collection.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad
This salad highlights many fresh flavours of the Mediterranean and is at its best when made with good-quality olive oil.

Photography by Jeff Coulson

The Best Macaroni Salad
This is a great keeper salad and perfect for a picnic or BBQ. Just make sure you pack it with plenty of ice packs to keep it nice and cold, both during transportation and at the table.

Photography by Annabelle Waugh

Chicken, Broccoli and Bocconcini Pasta Salad
Make this pasta salad for the whole family—the kids will love the mild dressing and round bocconcini cheese, while the adults will appreciate it as a light alternative to a sandwich.

Warm Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad
The dressing lends a taste of summer any time of year. The red peppers provide vitamins A and C and potassium. Quick and easy to make, this salad is perfect to take to a last-minute potluck or picnic.